


Truth Serum

by Burgie



Series: Katja Joins Team Good AU [16]
Category: Star Stable
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-10
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-08-07 20:49:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7729213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To prove her good intentions to the druids, Katja is interrogated under the influence of truth serum.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Truth Serum

Katja didn’t like standing before the druid council. They were all so… judgemental. But then again, she was on trial. So maybe it was supposed to feel like that. Still, did they have to stare at her like that?

There were only two friendly faces in the whole council. Katja was so glad that Alex and Elizabeth had been allowed to come, although she suspected that they would have come regardless.

“Welcome, all,” said Fripp, standing atop a small table. There was a flask filled with golden liquid on the table, as well as an ancient tome. “The council now comes to order to determine whether or not this former Dark Rider is telling the truth.”

Katja sighed and closed her eyes, feeling the probing gazes of the entire crowd. She remembered asking Elizabeth the night before if it would hurt or have any side-effects. According to the druid, the serum would not hurt her unless she tried to lie or withhold the truth. Apparently, it had been created as a way to get around fairy mischief. It would, Elizabeth had warned, only effect her adversely if she was pregnant or breastfeeding, just like everything else. She was glad that Alex hadn’t been there when she’d asked. Elizabeth had seen the look on her face, though, and had known immediately why she’d reacted like that.

“Katja, you must now drink the truth serum,” said Fripp, and Katja nodded and picked up the flask.

“All of it?” asked Katja.

“Yes, all of it,” said Fripp. Katja drank it quickly, figuring that it couldn’t taste any worse than oil-polluted water.

The serum didn’t taste of anything, really. But it left a feeling of numbness on her tongue and in her mouth and throat. It was like she’d just eaten something very minty.

“Shall we ask a test question?” asked one of the druids assembled.

“I don’t see why we should have to,” said Avalon. “My potions never fail, I use the best herbs.”

“He is a master alchemist,” said Elizabeth, and Katja could just see Avalon blushing beneath his hood. He always had a face now, just in case Elizabeth decided to kiss him.

“He always has been,” said Katja. “Even when he had a body, he was a good alchemist. He poisoned me on more than one occasion.” It was a little annoying that the truth serum compelled her to expand on whatever she said.

“That is true,” said Avalon. “Katja, the first time I poisoned you, what happened?” Katja really didn’t want to answer, but the serum compelled her to.

“I couldn’t keep anything down and died of dehydration within a few days,” said Katja. It hurt, avoiding the compulsion to elaborate, but she really didn’t want her girlfriend to hear all the gory details.

“True again,” said Avalon. “Now we may begin on the serious questions.”

“What is the real reason that you decided to side with us?” asked a druid. She had flowers twisted through her braided hair.

“Love,” said Katja. “I sided with you because I fell in love with Alex. I’ve always loved her.”

“Then why not side with us before this? Why is it only this version of Alex that has brought you over?” asked another druid. Katja couldn’t help but notice that it was only the younger druids who asked her about her relationship. Stupid ultra-conservative elders.

“I don’t know. Dark Core has just been so horrible to me, and I guess it finally just all became too much,” said Katja. She tried not to let her surprise show when she didn’t have to mention Buck. Elizabeth must have told Avalon, and he’d altered the serum. Or something like that, anyway. She silently thanked him and made a mental note to thank them both properly later.

“Now, that is believable,” said Avalon. “How do you aim to help us?”

“I can tell you what Dark Core had planned before I left,” said Katja. “And more than that, I can help you with any other monsters you may happen to come across. We do have some common enemies, after all.”

“Can you help us with GED?” asked Louisa. Katja was surprised that she was allowed to speak at the meeting. Must be a ‘chosen one’ thing.

“Those idiots? Oh, I’ll do more than help,” said Katja. “They’re one of the common enemies that I was talking about. Dad- Mr Sands- always hated them, even back when they were just a rival company.”

“Is Mr Sands really your father?” asked Alex. Several druids gave the girl poisonous looks, probably because she wasn’t even supposed to be there.

“Not by blood. He adopted us back when Garnok first transformed us,” said Katja.

“And who is ‘us’?” asked a druid, an elder one this time.

“Jessica, Sabine, and I,” said Katja. “Those two are my real sisters. We’re sirens.”

“And what about Nihili? Is she also related to you?” asked Linda.

“She may as well be,” said Katja. “She’s practically my sister-in-law, the way her and Sabine go at it.” It was so very, very hard to resist a grin at the uncomfortable shuffling that started up among the elder druids.

“Is there anyone else on your side related to you?” asked an elder druid.

“No,” said Katja. There was only an uncomfortable prickling in her throat as she said that, one that could be attributed to tears. “There’s no one.”

“How much do you know of Garnok’s plans?” asked another elder druid.

“More than Mr Sands,” said Katja. “I know that Garnok doesn’t want to use Justin, though. Darko, another associate of ours, has ordered Mr Sands to execute Justin. But he refused. Violently. I don’t know how long it will take Darko to regenerate, but he will come back with Nihili and we must be prepared for that.” She knew that she had to tell Alex everything before that happened. Nihili would use anything against her, especially her son.

“Is this Nihili known by any other names?” asked an elder druid.

“Yes,” said Katja. “Her human name is Elise. So if a new girl going by that name arrives on the island, be extremely wary of her. Nihili is very dangerous. Knowing her, though, I don’t think that she will arrive on the island that way. She prefers something more explosive.”

“And can you help us fight her? Do you know her weaknesses?” asked Avalon. “You mentioned that she is… dating… Sabine, perhaps we can use that against her?”

“Oh no,” said Katja, laughing. “If you hurt Sabine, that’ll only make her angry. She was a kitsune before she became a General so if you can find something to defeat or weaken kitsunes, that might work.”

“I’ll look into it,” said Linda and Avalon at the same time.

“Good, very good,” said Fripp. “This knowledge is extremely valuable to us, Katja. And all you ask in return is to be accepted into our fold.”

“No, that’s what I ask,” said Alex. “All Katja wants is to be with me. She just knows that to make that easier, she has to join the Keepers.”

“I have already been keeping an eye on her,” said Elizabeth. “She is very well-behaved, and useful. She knows almost as much about alchemy as Avalon does. Not to mention that she knows the history of many places that the Keepers dare not go.”

“Does this include Pandoria?” asked Fripp.

“Of course,” said Katja. Her heart pounded. “I really don’t want to remember that place, though.”

“And why not?” asked an elder druid. “It will help us indescribably.”

“Because she just got back from being banished there, you jerk!” Alex snapped at him.

“Yes,” said Fripp. “We must remember that we are good, meaning that we will not make someone uncomfortable in our pursuits. We must find another way, either extract her memories of that place in order to gain information or just wait until she is comfortable remembering by herself.”

“Thank you, Fripp,” said Katja. “But if there’s no other way, I’ll let you extract it from me with this serum.”

“She is serious about this,” said an elder druid. “I trust her.”

“Good, very good. Because you must all trust her,” said Fripp. “She will be vital in our fight against Garnok.”

“Particularly if we can somehow draw her sisters over onto our side as well,” said a younger druid.

“Good luck getting Sabine,” said Katja with a scoff. “You might be able to get Mr Sands, though, especially if you save Justin from Darko.”

“And here I thought that it wasn’t a rescue mission for a while,” said Louisa.

“Well, it’s turned back into one,” said Lisa. “Only now instead of saving Justin from his grandfather, we have to save him from someone more evil.”

“There’s always a greater evil,” said Katja. “I’ll also be able to tell you more about Darko but now isn’t the time or place, is it?”

“No,” said Fripp. “This is merely a trial to determine whether or not you are trustworthy.”

“And is she?” asked Alex.

“It may be too early right now to decide your trustworthiness,” said Avalon. “However, Elizabeth has brought me around. Your words have clearly convinced a few others of your trustworthiness. Given time, I am certain that all of us will at least consider the fact that you may not be entirely evil.”

“Thank you,” said Katja. “That means a lot to me. I know that I don’t deserve this.”

“In days of old, those who wished to court Soul Riders had to undertake a series of increasingly difficult trials,” said Fripp.

“I know,” said Katja. “Aideen’s were especially difficult, as I recall.”

“What were they?” asked Louisa. “And how do you know?”

“I was with Alex at the time,” said Katja. “One of them was to fetch the feather of a phoenix. Or maybe it was a griffin, I can’t remember. A lot of collecting rare items. All I had to do to get Alex was cross a river of ice, walk through fire, and finally stand in the eye of a tornado.”

“That sounds a lot harder than just fetching some trinkets,” said Lisa.

“Hard for a mortal, maybe,” said Katja with a smile. “And remember that these items were incredibly rare. Think the hair of a bigfoot, horn shavings from a unicorn, stardust, a petal from a moonflower, a fire lily.”

“Horn shavings? I thought Aideen loved all creatures and stuff,” said Lisa.

“Unicorns need their horns filed in order to use their magic properly,” said Fripp. “Too much build-up of the horn results in magical discharge.”

“Exactly,” said Katja. She smiled. “So, is the official questioning over now?”

“Yes,” said Fripp. “You may all depart now. I am satisfied with the answers that Katja has given.”

The druids disappeared in groups, either filing out of the gates or disappearing through portals until, finally, only the Soul Riders, Katja, and Fripp remained.

“Hey,” said Alex, walking forward and wrapping her arms around Katja. It felt so good to be in Alex’s arms again. “You okay?”

“No, it was awful! I could feel their eyes on me and you know that I still have some mind-reading abilities so I got the odd thought about how bad I am and how wrong our relationship is and the truth serum hasn’t worn off yet,” said Katja, pressing her face into Alex’s shoulder.

“How long does this stuff last, Fripp?” asked Alex, rubbing Katja’s back. “I’d ask Avalon but he’s at home and I really don’t want to interrupt that little love-fest again.” She shuddered. “Seeing an Elder sucking face with someone I know so well is just…”

“A lot of people were thinking the same about us,” said Katja.

“I wasn’t gonna say ‘wrong’,” said Alex. “Just weird. You expect the Elders to be all all-knowing and stuff. Like a priest.”

“Elders do not take a vow of chastity,” said Fripp, and giggled.

“I didn’t want to think of that,” said Alex with a groan. The other three girls looked thoroughly sickened too, but Katja joined Fripp in his giggling.

“Ah, the question,” said Fripp. “Katja, I believe that the serum should wear off within the next thirty minutes. Or perhaps it is an hour. Bah, what is time to an immortal anyway?”

“So, soon,” said Katja, summing it up. “Okay, that’s a relief.”

“No it isn’t,” said Alex. Katja looked at her and found her grinning.

“Uh oh,” said Katja. “That’s not a good look.”

“Ohoho, no it isn’t,” said Alex. “Now I can finally get some answers out of you.”

“Well, I’ll take that as my cue to leave,” said Linda. “See you guys later, I have a date with a good book.”

“And we have a dinner reservation,” said Lisa, tugging on Louisa’s hand.

“No we don’t,” said Louisa.

“I’m a celebrity, I always have a reservation,” said Lisa. They disappeared through a portal after Linda, and Fripp went off somewhere.

“So, what did you want to ask me about?” asked Katja. Her heart raced, but at least she wasn’t afraid of letting slip about one little secret in particular.

“When we were first dating, why did you choose me?” asked Alex. “You’re beautiful, you could’ve had every girl at the school falling at your feet. Yet you chose me.”

“Honestly? You were the only lesbian at the school until Lisa showed up,” said Katja. “But also, you were real. You were confident and comfortable with your body, and you didn’t take crap from anyone. I was honestly a little heartbroken when you turned out to be my rival. So when I was insulting you, that’s why. It’s because I was so angry at you for being my rival because I really liked you and it meant that I’d have to kill you.” She wiped her suddenly-teary eyes. “Stupid destiny.”

“Hey.” Alex tilted her chin up and kissed her. “It’s okay. You’ve already given destiny the finger. You finally got fed up with it. All the killing and the betrayal, but all you wanted was to be with me.”

“I know,” said Katja. “I love you so much.” She kissed Alex again.

“Love you too,” said Alex. “But I’m not done asking you questions yet.”

“I don’t mind this questioning,” said Katja. She was already planning on asking Avalon for some truth serum to use on Alex.

“I can tell,” said Alex. “What did you think of seeing me in my racing gear at the Scarecrow Hill race?”

“I wanted to jump your bones,” said Katja. She laughed. “You looked so hot. When I stopped to cheat, I had to bite my knuckles to stop thinking about you. Linda might have a really pretty shirt, and Anne has that nice suit, but you’re the one with skin-tight clothing and something good to show off underneath it.”

“Thought so,” said Alex. “My plan was to seduce you into giving James back.”

“Really?” asked Katja, and laughed again. “Wow, and here I thought Anne was the one all about romance.”

“I may have picked up a few tricks from her,” said Alex. “Want me to wear that outfit again? I still have it.”

“Yes,” said Katja. It was a little embarrassing, how desperate she sounded, but she just blamed it on the truth serum.

“Good, so let’s go,” said Alex. “I want to hear what you really think of it.”

“Wait! Elizabeth’s house is probably occupied,” said Katja. “With kissing!” she quickly added.

“Ew. But don’t worry, I’ve got the clothes in my room at the manor,” said Alex. “Hold on, we’ll ride the lightning.”

“And then straight to our little hideout,” said Katja. A spike of pain jabbed into her tongue, and she growled. “Fort Maria. Stupid truth serum.”

“Oh, it’s no secret. I know where you two go all the time,” said Fripp. “But I don’t watch you. Those activities hold no interest for me.”

“Good,” said Katja. “Just don’t tell anyone else we go there, please? I don’t want anyone knowing about it.”

“It is not necessary to tell anyone, so I will not,” said Fripp. “Farewell, siren. I wish you luck on your journey into the Keepers.”

“He’s so weird,” said Alex after the space squirrel had disappeared.

“He gets weirder with age,” said Katja. She held tight to Alex and closed her eyes. “Let’s go to bed.” In a flash of lightning, they were gone.


End file.
